Fifty nautical miles north of the equator lies the broken volcanic caldera that embraces the almost landlocked Darwin Bay and forms Isla Genovesa. This is the most north-easterly of the islands, isolated from the main grouping of the Galápagos and affected by the warm Niño (or Panama) current rather than the cold Humboldt; in addition, it has never been settled by humans. There are no feral introduced species, only one reptile (the Marine Iguana), and no land mammals. For these reasons, it has a unique ecology. The only predator is the Short-eared Owl, and because of this there are estimated to be over 1 million birds that call this island home.
Just behind Darwin Beach there are thousands of Great Frigate Birds, Red-Footed and Nazca Boobies, Small-tailed and Lava Gulls – nesting in trees, in shrubs, and on the ground. None of them paid us the slightest attention, and we had to be careful not to step on them. For sheer quantity of birdlife, this site was quite exceptional. Out in the caldera Galápagos Fur Seals bask on the narrow ledges along the sheer cliffs, and it is not hard to persuade them to come play with you in the water when you snorkel beneath them – they seem to enjoy it as much as you do, and have far more energy.
In the afternoon we took a slow panga ride along the caldera cliffs to Prince Philip’s steps on the south east corner of the island. This area of the cliff is home to many Red-billed Tropicbirds, one of the most beautiful and spectacular birds in the Galápagos, but hard to photograph. Some 30m up the steep lava rock is the gently sloping outside of the ancient volcanic cone. In this pre-historic landscape, leafless Palo Santo trees are densely inhabited by all the usual suspects, who – as always – completely ignore the presence of humans. Later, out on the eastern slopes of the island we scanned the lava for Short-eared Owls, which – in the absence of other predators – have become diurnal. Finally, after half an hour of searching with binoculars under the clouds of Storm Petrels wheeling over the rocks we spotted one, motionless under an overhanging rock, waiting for a petrel to land within attacking range.